Since the beginning of time,
people have hated God, or at the very least, mistrusted Him (Truth: 1
Samuel 2:2). They prefer to go to hell
and some even say they look forward to spitting in God’s face (Truth: 2
Peter 3:9). They blame Biblical, as well
as current atrocities on what they consider God’s sadistic nature (Truth:
Ezekiel 18:32; 2 Peter 3:9). They
believe that God manipulates people, that He is a
mass murderer, a rapist (Truth: Luke
1:38), and that He ordered the ethnic cleansing of Old
Testament countries (Truth: Joel 3:2; Nehemiah 13:18). They consider the wrath of God as an archaic and
obscene emotion (Truth:
Revelation 15:1). They insult
God’s justice and ridicule the concept of His holiness (Truth:
Isaiah 5:16; Isaiah 30:18).
They believe that God
inflicts the world with AIDS, cancer, starvation, rape, murder,
abuse, genocide, etc without a second thought (Truth: Romans 5:18). Due to the
fact that Christians heralded the return of Christ for centuries of time, they
dismiss it as irrelevant and claim that it will never happen (Truth:
Matthew 24:36). Added to their excuses to continue their rejection of God is the fact that Christians cannot agree on the truth,
because of the various doctrinal differences among us (Truth: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13: John 17:20-21). They
describe God as unconscionable and intrinsically evil and wicked, in spite of
His claims to be love personified (Truth: 1 John 4:7-21).
In actuality, every evil deed we see in the world stems from a
decision made by some sinful person, not by our Holy God. What God haters forget is that God Himself became man, Immanuel, and died
to pay the penalty of our sins for us (Matthew
1:23). Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve chose to believe
Satan over God. God did not create mankind’s penchant for evil; He just gave us
a free will to choose whether or not to use it. God has only our best interest
at heart (Jeremiah 29:11). The power of God is displayed every day throughout
the universe (Romans 1:20). However, this phenomenon is so commonplace in our modern
world, that people take Him for granted (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The fiery fury of the sun
is mild compared to the wrath of our holy and just God, but people tend to
either malign Him for it or they ignore Him as impotent of any consequential
power (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
These misguided people are blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4), and they forget that God’s original
plan for mankind was Paradise. He did not want sin and its consequences to
touch His precious creation. He wanted peace and blessing for us, not war,
greed, hatred and the evil brutality perpetuated by mankind. He preferred that
we enjoy the idyllic life He created for us. However, the first couple decided
that God was holding something back from them, an omniscience that Satan was
readily offering them. They believed Satan’s lie rather than God’s truth, and
people have been doing this same thing ever since (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
One
wonderful day, however, every knee in heaven, on the earth and even those under
the earth – who are already tormented in the flames of hell - will bow to the
Lordship of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:10). When Christ is revealed, all of the puzzle pieces,
which the Word revealed to us over eons of time, will fit into place. Then the
magnitude of God’s glory will astound our finite mind.
God
gives us many wondrous blessings every day, which we take for
granted. For instance, consider the stellar universe, the perfect tilt to the
earth’s axis, the sunrise and sunset, the earth’s exact distance from the sun,
a canopy of ozone to protect us from radiation, a perfect mixture of oxygen
from plants and trees for us to breathe, carbon monoxide from our breath for
the plants to use for photosynthesis, intricate body parts - which function
optimally if we do not misuse them, and Biblical precepts on which to base our
life.
God
sets us free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life (Romans
8:2), which are
as real as the laws of nature and science that God put into motion! God looks forward to us
living for eternity in His presence. He does not choose for anyone to
go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). God does not condemn us (John 3:17; 12:46-48). We condemned ourselves by our unbelief (John
3:18). Those
who accept Christ as their Savior are the only ones freed from this
condemnation (John 3:16-21).
This
eternal relationship starts the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior (Romans
6:23). Those
who live in the realm of the body and soul, and whose spirit is dead in
trespasses and sins, consider the message of the cross as foolishness (Ephesians
2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13). They are perishing and will
get their wish to spend eternity in hell. However, to us who are being saved by
the power of God, this gospel story makes perfect sense (1 Corinthians
1:18).
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, we trust in Your tender loving kindness, awesome goodness and infinite
mercy. We look forward to the eternal manifestation of the Your Kingdom on the
earth. We will serve You as You reign over all of the nations to the ends of
the earth. Your work in us will be complete and we will finally be one with You
and our Father. Magnify in our hearts the reality of Heaven and Hell, so that
we will constantly share with other people the option not to spend eternity in
Hell.
Thought
for the Day:
Jesus
Christ sacrificed His life to heal and restore, giving His all to forgive even
those who hate Him.
